The Comic Book Business
by Jet556
Summary: AU set in 1969. The comic book business has always been big. Then in the 1950's the Comic Code came into effect. It leaves some new writers at A. Nigma Comics stifled, Lee Ping most of all and so a meeting between writers occurs to discuss what they could do.
1. Censorship

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 **Censorship**

The year was 1969. "Midnight Cowboy" was in theatres, Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" had appeared on bookshelves. However the Comic book Code was still in effect. At A. Nigma Comics, the new blood writers were feeling the restrictions that had gotten on the nerves of their predecessors now getting on their nerves.

"Crimes shall never be prevented in a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of the law and justice… There is no way this can continue!" exclaimed Lee Ping, sitting in his studio. "Ultra-General has always been considered a vigilante by the authorities, he has a reason to distrust them! If he can't trust them then the readers can't trust them. What is this?"

"Guess his days of razing slums to get new neighborhoods built are done." Commented Cam Martinez.

"You and Basil don't have this problem."

"Well, the Creep is a monster and the Sea-Matelot is an enemy of Canada." Stated Cam. "It is hard to change that around."

Lee didn't mention Holger Holgaart or Biffy Goldstein because their characters did not come into conflict with the authorities. Holger's character fought Communists and Biffy's fought evil gods and monsters. There was absolutely no conflict with the authorities for their characters. Cam's character came into the conflict with the military and Basil's came into conflict with the entire nation.

"It is like the Code is aiming for characters like Ultra-General alone." Said Lee.

"Well, maybe vigilantes as heroes are just out of fashion." Suggested Cam. "But Basil is having trouble too."

"What trouble?" asked Lee perplexed. How he have trouble writing for a character who was an enemy of Canada?

"The same trouble Basil's predecessor had." Replied Cam. "Roman has been an enemy of Canada that at the same time has fought Canada's enemies during wartime. The Korean War ended sixteen years ago. Roman can't fight North Koreans, Chinese or Soviets anymore. Thus all Basil has for Roman to do is fight our country."

"Gather our friends." Said Lee. "I think we need to have a creative discussion."


	2. Roman

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 **Roman**

"Emperor Roman the Dweller-in-the-Depths" was one of A. Nigma Comics oldest characters. He was also the one character who had difficulty holding his own solo title for a long period. Since his debut in 1940 in the pages of "A. Nigma Mystery Comics" he had remained one of the most popular characters of the A. Nigma library however there was debate as to just how popular he was. His first solo series lasted from 1941 to mid 1944. Not a bad run at an issue a month but in comparison to characters such as "Ultra-General" and "the Creep" it was not as impressive. His second solo series had started in 1962 and was still going strong. It had originally been planned to cancel it in the March of 1968 but there were then plans to renew the magazine for seventy-two issues. If it did reach the March of 1974 however was the question. In the past year the magazine had gone through eight different writers and artists.

The original creator Cassius Hagen had been both writer and artist. He decreed that his successors for the character should also be both writer and artist. This was something the original President of A. Nigma Comics had agreed upon and so it was that the Cassius' successors felt a great weight on their shoulders and struggled to make their art and writing equal and none felt a greater weight than Cassius' own son Basil.

Basil had a different idea about how to write the character. Gone was the impetuous youthful character of the golden age that used colloquial speech. This silver age Roman was more authoritative, arrogant and solemn and spoke in neo-Shakespearean dialogue. Some found this change of characterization to be good, since a person can't be expected to remain impetuous well into their sixties, even if by Dweller-in-the-Depth standards the character was only middle aged. Others found Roman to be unlikable. Basil did however keep the characterization of Roman as both hero and villain. Yet even then he had problems.

As he sat at his desk, Basil looked through his father's first issues. There must have been something here, something he could use, some discarded plot element that he could make a story around. There must have been an evil cousin or something that had not been since the forties.

Then Cam came walking in. Basil looked up at him and he knew why Cam was there. Basil gave a nod and Cam then left. Perhaps any problem Basil had would soon be answered.


	3. The Meeting

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 **The Meeting**

At Lee's house, the five did meet. Lee, Cam, Holger, Biffy Basil all of them! Each of them sitting at the dinning room table, they were joined by Lee's wife Tina.

Pouring himself a cup of tea, Basil looked around at the table. Everyone had their eyes on him. Why did they all have eyes on him?

"What?"

"Oh, just a little idea." Said Lee.

"What idea?" asked Basil.

"My idea." Replied Cam. "Ultra-General, Metal Lamp and Egyptian Pharaoh having defend Canada against the Creep and Roman! The Creep is hunted by the military, Roman is an enemy of Canada, what would happen if the two were to team up against the country?"

"Excellent idea but whose book will this be going on in?" asked Basil.

"We were thinking doing it in each our books." Replied Lee. "Start it in "Ultra-General", then go to "The Creep", then go to "Metal Lamp", then "Egyptian Pharaoh" and finally end it in "Emperor Roman.""

"I think the code has a rule against this thing." Said Basil.

"Code can be cheated." Commented Holger.

"I don't know about this." Said Basil, placing a hand on the back of his neck.

"Still, what have we to lose?" asked Biffy.

"For violating the code?" asked Basil. "Maybe our jobs."


	4. Their Chairman

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 **Their Chairman**

Wendell Barrage was the editor and chairman of A. Nigma Comics. He had started low as a coffee boy and had since risen up. When World War II started he had been drafted into the conflict and wouldn't return to the company until after the war. Barrage became the chairman in 1960 and as an editor had a reputation of being merciless to anyone who did not obey the code yet always encouraged people to find loopholes.

As the five came to Barrage, four of them all pushed Lee to the front so he could do the speaking. The idea was his so it was only fitting that he tell it to the head of the company.

"Well, if it isn't the writers of our top series." Said Barrage. "What brings you all here? You'd think this was Russia with the committee of the workers."

"It was Lee's idea." Said Basil. The others looked at him in disbelief that he had broken down so quickly.

"What idea?" asked Barrage.

"A crossover going through our books." Replied Biffy. "It was Lee's idea! Punish him! Don't punish me! I need this job!"

"What is the exact story?" asked Barrage.

"Ultra-General, Metal Lamp and Egyptian Pharaoh defending Canada against a team-up between the Creep and Emperor Roman." Replied Lee.

"That's nuts." Said Barrage.

"Holger going back to Denmark." Holger hanged his head in failure.

"I love the idea!" What Barrage said caused enough shock that Cam actually fainted. They could not believe what he had just said.


	5. Brainstorming

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 **Brainstorming**

Cam and Basil sat in Cam's living room. The former sat on a chair while the latter sat on a couch. Both had clipboards and pencils and were in the middle of a brainstorm session.

"Okay, what have we got so far?" asked Cam.

"Uh, nuclear testing over Pacifica and the military causing the death of the Creep's friend causes him and Roman to team up." Replied Basil.

"Is that it? We've been at this for an hour."

"We had a fifty minute debate on who was better as Dracula: Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee."

"Oh, right." Said Cam. "So, any ideas?"

"Did we ever decide where they were going to attack?" asked Basil.

"How about Toronto?" asked Cam.

"Sure, the place we live in." replied Basil. "Toronto is not the center of the world!"

"Well, what part of Ontario would you choose?" asked Cam.

"I don't know. Oshawa, Dorset, Port Perry, just somewhere other than Toronto!" Basil put his pencil down. "I've been stuck in this city for three months. I just need a change of scenery."

"Road trip?" asked Cam.

"To where?" asked Basil.

"You need a change of scenery?" asked Cam. "Sounds good to me! Lets go somewhere else! A new place might get the creative juices flowing for both of us."


	6. Stratford

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 **Stratford**

The Queen's Inn had been established in in the 1800's but the building it was located in currently had been built in 1905. Sitting in a hotel room, Cam and Basil both looked at their list of ideas. It was almost empty. The only idea was how Roman and the Creep teamed up.

Throwing his pen down, Basil stood up and walked for the door. "I need to get out. The bookstores, the theatres, the river, there are sights to be seen! I can't get my mind going if I'm going to be stuck in a hotel room the whole time!"

"Where are you going to go?" asked Cam.

"I don't know." Replied Basil. "I just know that I'm not going to be spending my time at Stratford stuck in a hotel room!"


	7. Basil's Return

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 **Basil's Return**

When Basil returned, Cam looked up at him. Having now gotten at least ten ideas down, Cam felt certain that Basil had gotten at least some.

"Any ideas?" asked Cam.

Many!" exclaimed Basil.

"Lets here them then." Said Cam.

"Alright, while Roman is out of Pacifica his evil…" He paused. "Wait, what was the Deep General established to be? His half-brother."

"Your dad created Roman and his cast and you don't even know?" asked Cam.

"I didn't really pay attention to the characters my dad not create!" replied Basil.

"Uh… Yeah, paternal… I think!"

"You think?" asked Basil. "Don't you know?"

"I don't pay attention to the characters I don't work on!" replied Cam.


	8. The Finished Product

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 **The Finished Product**

When the finished product had been presented to Barrage Basil and Cam looked the most nervous out of the writers. They had been quick and their part of the story seemed very cobbled together, at least in their opinion. Still, Barrage was impressed.

"This seems like a fine story!" exclaimed Barrage.

"Thanks." Said Lee. Holger and Biffy had very happy looks on their faces.

"Basil, what is going to happen next for Roman?" asked Barrage. "His evil half-brother Deep General has taken over Pacifica. How does he take it back after being defeated by the teamed-up heroes?"

Basil was at a loss for words. He had not thought that far in advance. "That would be telling." Was all he could say.

"And Cam, who is this strange little man who helped the Creep escape?" asked Barrage.

"Don't want to spoil it." Replied Cam.


	9. The Success

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 **The Success**

The story arc proved to be the biggest success A. Nigma comics had that year. At a diner Lee, Tina, Cam, Brandy, Holger, Biffy and Basil all toasted their success.

"You know, I heard that MWF Animation is going to produce a television series based on your characters." Said Tina once the toast was done.

"Ah jeez…" Basil brought a hand to his face. MWF Animation was a rather cheap production company. In fact the only other company that rivaled MWF in cheapness was Cambria Productions. "All of our characters or just someone's in particular?"

"All of yours." Answered Tina.

"Cam…" said Basil.

"What?" asked Cam.

"Kill me!"

"Why?"

"I don't want to see the character my father created and that I continued working on after he died in a series done by MWF."

"Come on, Basil!" said Lee. "This could be great! Besides Ultra-General the others have never appeared on screen before."

"Lee, let me remind you what exactly moves in an MWF production: lips, an occasional arm or leg and fully animated black silhouettes." Said Basil.

"And just what do you think they will be animated?" asked Brandy.

"What?" asked Basil. "What is that?"

"They will be using art directly from your books." Replied Brandy.

Removing his hand from his face, Basil looked up at the diner's ceiling with a smile. "I suppose it won't be so bad."

"And it will be great!" said Biffy, placing an oversized arm around Basil and placing his hand on Basil's shoulder. "We are making the jump to immortality!"


	10. Immortality

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 **Immortality**

The show "The A. Nigma Super Heroes" ended up being a huge success despite the limited animation. The use of art from the comic books, the use of the stories themselves from the comic books and the voice acting made it an instant classic that had families gathering to watch it on their television set every night at eight thirty p.m.

Basil, who had been cynical at the thought of MWF Animation producing it, ended up swaying to the side of his friends and fellow artists and writers. "It is very good." He admitted.

This opened the road to later series for other characters created by A. Nigma Comics. It ended up being the Creep who had the most screen appearances as did Ultra-General and the rest only having guest appearances. Still, all turned out perfectly in the end with each character having many screen appearances and becoming household names.

 **The End**


End file.
